Is it racist to wear a sombrero on Cinco de Mayo?

Not at all. You can celebrate the Mexican culture.

No. Relax, have fun, don’t be militant about being PC. Is it racist for a Hispanic person to wear a baseball cap? Pffft…forget about it!

I am hispanic.

@JesusWasAJewbot and..what’s your point?

If “everybody is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day,” why not “everybody is Mexican on Cinco de Mayo?” Sure, wear your sombrero. When else would it be more appropriate?
well, maybe wearing it over your face while you take a siesta. Is that really done?

Some people find the celebration of Cinco de Mayo itself offensive so yes some will find wearing a sombrero offensive as well.

I love the Chinese/Vietnamese peasant farm hats and bought 2 while traveling in asia. The locals all laughed at me, no offense and I LOVE wearing them when I garden. People are waaay too uptight about everything IMO.

I bet the majority of Americans have no idea what the heck they are celebrating when they join in Cinco de Mayo festivities anyway, sombrero or not.

@bkcunningham I know! I know! It’s a celebration and commemoration of the victory of the Mexican army over the invading French army at the Battle of Pueblo, on May 5th, 1862. The French were considered a far, far superior army, better trained and better equipped and the French outnumbered the Mexicans about two to one, 8000 French, 4000 Mexicans, and still the French pretty much got their asses kicked. But they lived to fight another day, came back about a year later with 30,000 troops and whooped the Mexicans. They weren’t going to fool around the second time. I lived in Texas for 7 years, only reason I know. :-)

@muppetish I’m curious; who are the people who find the celebration of Cinco de Mayo itself offensive and why?

I was sent to find a cinco de mayo celebration today and instead found a parking ticket. It seems that either my son’s Spanish teacher gave out the wrong info, or more likely, my son wasn’t paying attention and kind of made up where he thought it was supposed to be.

ps @lillycoyote, thanks for doing his homework

@lillycoyote, maybe they don’t see why it should be treated as an American celebration, to the extent of claiming public funds for parades or receiving special attention in public schools. After all, we don’t celebrate any other country’s “independence day,” just our own.

I’m pretty certain lots of people will find it racist. You could always ask Yo, Is This Racist?, though.

@Jeruba Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican “Independence Day.” Cinco de Mayo, as I mentioned above, is a celebration, a commemoration of a single battle, the Battle of Puebla, that occurred on May 5th, 1862, when an outnumbered and out-equipped and out-trained, essentially inferior Mexican army. defeated an attempt by French forces to invade their country.

Mexican Independence Day is celebrated on September 16, and commemorates the day, in 1810 when Mexico, actually a priest named Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, issued a proclamation, known as the “Grito de Dolores,” not exactly, but kind of, the Mexican equivalent of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which as this article puts it “was a passionate rallying cry … that amounted to a declaration of war against the colonial government.”

While the seeds had already been sown, the “Grito de Dolores” help inspire a ten year struggle by Mexico to free itself from almost 300 years of Spanish Rule.

So, again, Cinco De Mayo is not a celebration of Mexican “Independence Day” or anything close to that. It is a bigger holiday in the U.S. than in Mexico. It is a celebration of Mexican heritage and identity. All sorts of Americans have opportunities to celebrate their cultural and national heritage and identity. If anyone is concerned about taxpayer dollars going towards these things then perhaps we should cancel all the St. Patrick’s Day parades.

@wundayatta That was kind of the short version. You know how history is… a lot of stuff happened before that, a lot of stuff was going on at the same time, and a lot of stuff happened after that… :-)

No, and I’d go so far as to say that people who fuss about it are as racist as they accuse others of being.

@lillycoyote Well, I’m kind of pissed at the teacher for not making sure the kids knew exactly where they were supposed to be going.